Hello,
I have read about the polar alignment feature. My permanently mounted AP 1200GTO unfortunately cannot quite see the NCP (trees blocking it). If I can see stars near the pole but not Polaris itself, can I still use the polar alignment routine to get a decent alignment?

The best thing to do is to give it a try - you can measure your PA error without needing a license, it's just the final adjustment stage that needs the license. To be honest I think it's probably unlikely to work (sorry) unless you can see within 2-3 degrees of the pole, but you never know.... Remember that the plate solve data only goes down to 85N (SharpCap 3.0) or 83N (SharpCap 3.1), so you can't go too far from the pole.

The two approaches that seem most likely to work are

1) offset the finderscope upwards by 2-3 degrees and then take measurements between 45 degrees left of home and 45 degrees right instead of starting at the home position and rotating 90 degrees

2) Larger field of view (bigger sensor camera on the finderscope) that gives maybe a 4-5 degree FOV - if you can get that with a fair number of stars on you might get somewhere.

I think your chances are quite high. I use it with a wide FoV (8 x 11 deg) in the southern hemisphere and it will often get a good plate solve when the pole is outside the FoV. I might see part of one or two green circles and I can use that to get the mount pointed roughly south before starting the alignment procedure proper.